My beloved Tannoy Revolution R2s have finally given up and in looking for a replacement I’m thinking of saving some space. To that end I was initially thinking of a pair of active stand mounts but a friend suggested looking at a sound bar with woofer. Has anyone got experience of soundbars used purely for music (including quite a bit of vinyl)? Budget around £500.

Depends what you want out of music, how big the room is etc.

We have R3 mains and RC centre in the lounge and wouldn’t want to replace them with a soundbar. Despite listening to numerous bars with subs, including some very expensive and well reviewed things, they never sound anything like the Tannoys with music. OK I suppose with room filling ‘noise’ but I’d get frustrated with them for propper listening. Artificial stereo, no mid bass and over powering ponderous subs.

Stand mounts may not save that much space if you have to accomodate the stands.

If you’re into music, like sound quality and have half decent partnering equipment, I’d get some more floorstanders.

Having said that, on this laptop I have a USB DAC and £100 active monitors. They sound awesome for close listening but wouldn’t want them as mains.

Thanks Twonks, after a but more searching tonight I might settle for the Klipsch R-51PMs.

Depends how you listen to music. If you like to sit down and listen then a soundbar isn’t going to do it. If you want to fill the room with good quality sound in the background while you potter around and do stuff then a decent soundbar setup and sub will work fine.

Separate actives for sound quality – providing they are good ‘uns.